Page 34 of Unmasking Love
Crispin, the motherfucker, walks out ahead of her and then turns around and gives her finger guns. What kind of asshole is this guy? "So, I guess that hockey player connection ran dry. I told you I was okay with it if you had to sleep with him to keep getting the business."
I stand before thinking about what I’m doing and move to her side.
“Aiden?”
“You again?” Crispin asks and my hand curls into a fist.
“Yeah, me again.” I catch Harper looking up at me and I turn to her.
"Hi, Harper," I say. Quietly, respectfully. Pencil Dick clears his throat and I look up at him. "And I'd like you not to insinuate that my real estate agent needs to sleep with me or any other client in order to get business. She's a professional. Clearly you aren't." I turn so I'm shoulder to shoulder with Harper, presenting a united front. Her head is bouncing between me and lanky. He's looking at me with less embarrassment in his eyes than I'd like to see. I'm tempted to use my five percent body fat build on him but goalies aren't fighters. We're protectors. I straighten so I’m at my full height and flex my pecs which I know are visible in the dry fit shirt I have on.
I am half inclined to just punch him for the fun of it.
“Why don’t you and I go outside?” Harper says. She turns and puts her hand on my bicep. Again, just like every other time we’ve touched, warmth seeps from her skin, travels up my arm and through my body at lightning speed. I place my hand at her lower back and follow her outside.
“You didn't have to do that. Defend me.” Harper says as we walk over to a bench on the sidewalk.
"Yes, I did."
"No, really it's fine. I can handle Crispin."
“I never said you couldn’t. But I had the chance to defend you, and I took it. I’ll always take it.”
She looks away and blinks hard. Then she inhales deeply and shakes her shoulders. “So, what brings you to my office, today?”
“I brought you lunch.”
“You did?” She asks and a little fold appears in her forehead. I want to caress it away.
“Yeah,” I reach into my backpack and pull out the food. “A falafel wrap and fries from one of my favorite places.”
“Wow, umm, thanks Aiden.”
“Anytime.” I smile.
Shelaughs and it’s fucking magic. “Don’t make promises you can’t keep!”
“I would never.” I vow. She scoots back a little bit to place the bag between us. Between the mid-October sun and the warmth radiating from Harper I start to sweat.
“Do you mind if I eat? I just realized I’m starving.”
“Of course not, do you mind if I stay for a bit?”
“Not at all.” She smiles as she pops a waffle fry into her mouth.
“So, tell me about your day so far.” I stack one ankle over my knee and turn towards her as I sling an arm across the back of the bench. My fingers could tangle into her hair if I let them. Fuck do I want to let them.
“Well, it had an unexpected start.” She smiles and looks down at her lap. “And then while I was driving to work I had a “duh” moment.”
“What’s that?”
“Like when something that didn’t initially make sense finally slots into place.” Oh no. Please don’t bring up vitamin D. I can feel my ears getting hot because every moment I spend with Harper makes me want her more. Thankfully she doesn’t say anything else, she just smiles at me and her eyes sparkle. For a fraction of a second they flick down to my cock. He jumps for joy and I grip my knee so hard my knuckles turn white. The last thing I want to do is adjust myself in front of her. It’ll just draw more attention to how much I really do want to give her what she needs.
“What else do you have planned for today?” I ask as quickly as I can to try and steer this conversation in any direction besides the one it was going.
“Well, I’ve got to keep looking for places for this one client who wants eco features…” She trails off and smiles at me and her teasing makes me laugh. “The team meeting just wrapped up and I have a few tasks stemming from that to do this afternoon. Plenty of calls to make, emails to answer, a photoshoot, and then I have a showing with a new client. I’ll head home straight from that and watch a movie or something.”
“You could watch our game.” I suggest and as I say it I realize how much I want her to be watching me, my team.
